Keyboard telegraphic transmitter.



No. 779,223. PATENTED JAN. 3, 1905.

M. KOTYRA.

KEYBOARD TELEGRAPHIG TRANSMITTER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET No. 779,223. PATENTED JAN. 3, 1905. M. KOTYRA.

KEYBOARD TBLEGRAPHIO TRANSMITTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1904.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Milli/Ill Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

MAXIMILIEN KOTYRA, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

KEYBOARD TELEGRAPHIC TRANSMITTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,223, dated January 3, 1905.

Application filed March 21, 1904. Serial No. 199,280.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAXIMILIEN wKOTYRA, electrical engineer, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at 26 Avenue des Ternes, Paris, France, (post-office address,) have invented a new and useful Improvement in Keyboard Telegraphic Transmitters, (for which Letters Patent have been applied for in France under date of July 1, 1903. No. 333,498; in Germany under date of July 4, 1903, not issued; in England under date of July 7, 1903, No. 15,065, and in Belgium under date of Janua-ry 22, 1904, not issued, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to keyboard-transmitters adapted to facilitate, simplify, and accelerate in a considerable degree the transmission of telegrams by means of telegraphic apparatus which utilizes an alphabet, such as the Morse alphabet, in which a particular combination of dots and dashes represents conventionally each letter or symbol.

This invention has for its object to enable even an inexperienced person to transmit a telegram mechanically with the aid of the Morse alphabet or other similar alphabet without having to execute any preliminary manipulation and in a very simple, rapid, and sure manner by merely touching the keys of a keyboard each key of which corresponds to a sign of the alphabet that is adopted, thereby relieving the operator of all enervating and tiring muscular effort, and so that the operator has merely to depress the key, which opposesonly an insignificant resistance to his finger. All the other mechanical work necessitated by the transmission of the corresponding signal is then effected immediately and automatically by the action of a motor in continual motion in such a manner that the depression of each key has the immediate and direct result of throwing into operation the mechanism for transmitting the corresponding signal.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, one of the ways in which this invention may be carried out, Figure 1 is a side elevation, with the framing of the keyboard shown in section, of the-transmitting mechanism corresponding to one of the keys. It is to be understood that the mechanism of all the other keys, which are equal in number to that of the signals, letters, and symbols to be transmitted, are identical to that shown. Fig. 1 shows the key in its normal position of rest ready to be depressed for the purpose of transmitting a signal. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the key depressed and with the parts in their respective positions for transmitting the signal. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the parts at the moment at which the transmission of the signal has just been completed and the automatic disconnection is about to be effected and the key is about to rise and move forward again. Fig. 4 is a section on the line at a of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7 7 of Fig. 2. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of the plate or bar carrying the groups of fixed contacts.

The framing of the apparatus is shown as having the shape of a rectangular box composed of a body a and a cover 6, hinged together at c. A shaft (Z carries a long pinion d, which extends over the entire length of the box and is set in motion in a continuous manner by a suitable motor. (Not shown.) The shaft cZ rotates in bearings (not shown) situated at the two ends of the box in front and near the lower part of the latter. Near the pinion d and slightly behind it there is fixed at the two ends of the box a contact bar or plate a, on the face of which are formed side .by side groups e 6 &c., Fig. 8, of projecting parts and depressions, the particular arrangement of which in each group corresponds to the particular combination of dots and dashes selected to reproduce one of the letters or symbols of the alphabet employed. Above each of these groups of contacts there is arranged one of the automatic transmitting mechanisms brought into action by the operation of the circuit-closing keys, only one of which is shown in the drawings. Each of these mechanisms consists of a circuit-closing key provided with a stem f, pivoted at f in a slide-block g, which is guided by a rod g, and screws 9 in a tubular guide g and a slideway g, fixed to the framing. The slideblock 9 is normally drawn forward into the position shown in Fig. 1 by a spring 7L, and the key f is normally kept raised in the horizontal position (shown in Fig. 1) by a flat spring 2', fixed by one of its ends to the slideblock 9 and acting at the other end upon a pin provided in the side of the key f.

On the under side of the stem f there is formed a rack 7', adapted to engage with the pinion CZ when the rack is depressed. The stem f of the key may be of round or any other suitable cross-section, and it is made thinner or recessed at two points, 7'; and m, in its length, corresponding with the two ends of its stroke, Fig. 1 and Fig. 3. The stemf of the key passes through the front of the box or framing by means of a slot 11/ in the form of a dumb-bell -that is to say, it is formed with an enlarged portion at its two ends in which the round body of the stem f can pass and with a contracted or throttled intermediate portion in which only the thin portions 7 and m of the said stem can pass.

It should be understood that I do not limit myself to the slot a being formed in the outside casing, as it may readily be formed in a separate piece orlug without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Below the stem f of the circuit-closing key there is also fixed near its end, where the pivotf is situated, a shoe or block 0, carrying one or more contact-springs arranged in such a manner as to come in elastic contact with the corresponding group of contacts 6 a of the bar 0 when the key is depressed. A set-screw p, screwed into the block 0, prevents the spring from entering too far forward into the depressions of the said group of contacts when the spring is caused to bear on the top of the said group, as hereinafter described.

The spring 19 may be electrically connected through the apparatus to the battery, and the plate or bar a, which is insulated from the apparatus by suitable means, may be connected to the line, or vice versa.

The several parts being arranged as hereinbefore described, the mode of operation is as follows: hen it is desired to transmit a particular letter or symbol of the alphabet, the operator has merely to depress the corresponding key to the bottom of its stroke. This he is able to do, because up to this moment the thin portion l: of the stem f of the circuit-closing key is situated coincident with the slot n. This causes the rack 7' to engage with the pinion cl, which is being continuously rotated by the action of a motor (not shown) in the sense of the arrow As soon as this engagement is effected the key is drawn back by the pinion acting on the rack, so that the round portion of the stem f passes at once into the lower enlarged portion of the slot a, whereby the key is prevented from rising again. This key continues to be drawn backward by the pinion, so that the contact spring or springs'p, which have'moved down with the said key, now rub upon the projecting portions of the corresponding group of contactsfor instance, the group a, Fig. 2. Each time the spring 1) rubs over one of the projecting contacts of the group the battery is thereby connectedv temporarily to the line and sends along the line a long, or short impulse, according to the length of the face of the projection over which the spring is passing at the time, so that, as will be readily understood from the explanations given hereinbefore, the receiving instrument will receive a succession of dashes and dots representing in combination the letter or symbol that corresponds to the key which has been depressed. As soon as the stem f reaches the end of its backward travel and the signal has been completely transmitted the thin portion on of the stem f comes in line with the slot a, Fig. 3. The stem f is then immediately raised by its spring '4", whereby the rack 7' becomes disengaged from the pinion (Z, and as soon as the stem f has moved back into the upper enlarged portion of the slot a the key and its appurtenant parts are moved forward again by the spring it into the position shown in Fig. 1, ready for the transmission of a fresh signal.

It is to be noted that in addition to the hereinbefore-stated advantages this invention affords also the advantage of dispensing with insulating portions between the long and short conducting portions of the groups a c of contacts of the bar a representingthe letters and symbols of the alphabet employed. This obviates the drawbacks which in other systems may result from the metallization of the insulating-surfaces due to the repeated rubbing of the rubbing contacts, such as p. It is further to be clearly understood that this invention is not strictly limited to the precise details shown and described herein. It is obvious that the respective forms, dimensions, and arrangements of the several parts constituting the apparatus may be varied with out departing from the nature of this invention.

hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States,

1. In a telegraphic transmitter of the class described, the combination with a suitable member provided with a slot of substantially dumb-bell form, of a circuit-closing member having a stem passing through said slot conforming in cross-section to the enlarged portion thereof and provided with a thinned portion constructed to pass through the contracted portion of said slot, substantially as described.

2. In a telegraphic transmitter of the class described, the combination with a suitable member provided with a slot of substantially dumb-bell form, of a circuit-closing member having a stem passing through said slot conforming in cross-section to the enlarged portion thereof and provided With a thinned portion constructed to pass through the contracted portion of said slot, and means for maintaining said stem in the upper portion of said slot, substantially as described.

3. In a telegraphic transmitter of the class described, the combination With a suitable casing provided With a slot of substantially dumb-bell form, of a circuit-closing member constructed to have a sliding movement Within said casing, having a stem passing through said slot conforming in cross-section to the enlarged portion thereof, and provided at tWo points in its length corresponding respectively to the tWo ends of its travel With thinned portions constructed to pass through the contracted portion of said slot, substantially as described.

4. In a telegraphic transmitter of the class described, the combination With a suitable member provided With a slot of substantially dumb-bell form, of a circuit-closing member having a spring-pressed stem passing through said slot conforming in cross-section to the enlarged portion thereof, and normally maintained in the upper portion, and provided With a thinned portion constructed to pass through the contracted portion of said slot, substantially as described.

5. In a telegraphic transmitter of the class described, the combination With a suitable member provided with a slot of substantially dumb-bell form, of a circuit-closing member comprising a sliding block, a stem pivoted thereto passing through said slot and conforming in cross-section to the enlarged portion thereof, means for maintaining said stern in the upper portion of said slot and a thinned portion on said stem constructed to pass through the contracted portion of said slot, substantially as described.

6. In a telegraphic transmitter of the class described, the combination With a suitable casing provided With a slot of substantially dumb-bell form, of a circuit-closing member having a stem passing through said slot conforming in cross-section to the enlarged portion thereof and provided With a thinned portion constructed to pass through the contracted portion of said slot, a signal producer, means for actuating said circuitcloser over said signal-producer and means for returning said circuit-closer to normal position, substantially as described.

In testimony Whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

MAXIMILIEN KOTYRA,

Witnesses:

HANSON O. Come, JOHN ZULLER. 

